Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Meh

Okay, so my two-week (poorly observed) hiatus from blogging about the primary is over. And, just in time, because the press is finally coming to see what was pretty obvious as of early-mid March: barring a meltdown of Dean-esque proportions, Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee for President.

Going back, I don't remember calling for her to drop out of the race, nor does a quick search of my archives reveal one. And as much as I think staying in the race now will accomplish very little, I also think leaving now would accomplish little except to tell the people of Montana they suck. To rephrase that slightly, if she was going to drop out early, she's months overdue. So as far as I'm concerned, she can stay in the race if she likes, just keep it clean and stop giving McCain ammunition for November.

All that said, I'm seriously concerned about the state of Sen. Clinton's supporters. I'm read about a half-dozen of their blogs regularly, and (continuing my policy of not naming names in the hopes that these people will realize how crazy they sound) they're freaking me right the fuck out. The following things have all been written in the last 24 hours:

1) There should be a unity ticket. With Clinton as President, and Obama as Vice-President.

2) The Obama campaign deliberately engineered a racial divide in the party, which the Clinton campaign is in no way responsible for.

3) If Obama is the nominee, they will vote for McCain, or not vote at all.

In short, some Democrats have gone absolutely looney tunes. 1 is clearly bizarre, as most reputable organizations don't make a habit of giving the first prize to the runner up. (Imagine if Jeopardy ran that way...) 2 is only "subjective" in the same way gravity is, and otherwise is clearly false. Even if we put aside most of Sen. Clinton's surrogates, surely her husband's remarks have some bearing here? But 3 is what really boggles my mind.

Look, in 2000 a non-trivial number of lefties voted with their narcissism, not with their brains. And the result has been, and will continue to be, a catastrophe. To do so again would be petty, arrogant, and self-defeating. (Just what we've come to expect from the Democratic Party!) But for a number of her supporters -- most vocally self-described feminists -- to threaten to do so when the other side is running John McCain, a man who wants to criminalize abortion and whose only complaint about the current Supreme Court is that it's not partisan enough, is insane.

I've recently warmed a bit to the idea of a unity ticket, though I still think overall it's a bad idea. If having Clinton's name on the ballot is what will keep her supporters in the tent, then I say fine, whatever. The Vice-Presidency isn't an important post anyway. But the idea that Obama -- a pro-choice Democrat -- has to buy feminist votes against an anti-choice Republican at this point is absurd, and I hope they come to realize that.